On Day Four of the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the Sen. Judiciary Cmte. completes the second round of questions. Following that, the Cmte. calls the first panel of witnesses.
Watch SCOTUS Confirmation Hearings on-line here.
Memorable moments from yesterday’s hearings:
Senator Al Franken questions SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor about abortion rights and privacy.
Senator Al Franken reminisces with Sonia Sotomayor about Perry Mason.
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Filed under: General | Tagged: abortion rights, Al Franken, Perry Mason, Privacy Rights, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court |
The Confluence 
LOL.
I really like Sotomayor now, btw.
I do too!
Me, three! The more I research her and hear her, the more I’m sisterhood-crushin’ on her. lol.
Me four. I’m enjoying this historic moment all the more because it is well deserved on her part. No doubt about it … she is qualified.
“I don’t know. That’s why I asked her.”
Haha
I can’t wait till Franken starts puncturing the egos of Republican blowhards on the Senate floor.
by blow blowhards who are you talking about?
do you mean the firefighters??
or did you mean the REP senators
Let’s see now…John Kyl, Jeff Sessions, Orrin Hatch, Tom Coburn, Lindsey Graham. I could go on…
I wasn’t talking about the hearigs–just that it will be fun to have a humorist in the Senate.
I don’t know what party Ricci belongs to. Or care. Why should I?
i just wanted you to clarify your comment thats all
I think you missed the phrase “on the senate floor”.
I think firefighters use water to put out fires. They don’t just blow hard.
LOL!
I hope he punctures them ALL, not just the Republicans. Someone in that chamber needs to shine a light on how ridiculous and pompous and self-important the whole lot of them are.
Absolutely. I wish he’d puncture Kerry’s ego, but my guess is Franken will have to suck up to the Dems.
Ugh! Kyl is lecturing Sotomayor on the role of judges–basically they have no role according to him. They are robots.
kyl is a dick, what else is new, huh?
I can’t listen to Lindsey Graham. I’m muting for now.
You missed the best part!
Lindsey Graham is trying to OUT Sotomayor as Pro-Choice and Anti Death Penalty. She apparently wrote a memo on the Death Penalty and is now trying to paint her as Left of Center.
Lindsey then informed us that Ken Starr wrote in favor of her appointment?!? This to me is says that they (Republicans) GOT THE MEMO on how AY CARAMBA UPSET the Latinos are over the tar and feather treatment she is getting in trying to paint her and Latino Civil Rights organizations as r@cists.
Los Conservadores Atacan a Sotomayor /The Conservatives Attack Sotomayor
Media Matters’ Boehlert goes head-to-head with Tancredo over Sotomayor on CNN
I love Al Franken. To me, the funniest part of his part in the hearings is that on an old SNL skit, he played the part of Senator Paul Simon in a spoof on the Clarence Thomas hearings. One of the best send-ups in SNL history, imo.
So Sotomayor didn’t say that she believes that the constitution guarantees the right of women to have abortions. Very sad that Democratic Senators are accepting this non-answer. Welcome to Age of Obama.
Did Ruth Bader Ginsburg say she believed that in the Age of Clinton? I don’t think she did. It would have been confirmation suicide. Nominees of Dem presidents are coached by Dems to evade litmus test questions. Same for Repubs. Nothing unusual or saddening in her responses or their acceptance.
Ah, how wrong you are.
http://www.cnsnews.com/Public/Content/Article.aspx?rsrcid=50819
Relevant quote:
“In 1993, she told the Senate Judiciary Committee during her confirmation hearing:
‘(Y)ou asked me about my thinking on equal protection versus individual autonomy. My answer is that both are implicated. The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself. When the government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a full adult human responsible for her own choices.’
I guess it wasn’t “political suicide” for her to make common sense statement like that 16 years ago. The failure of Democratic leaders in the Age of Obama to fight for women’s rights is a cause for shame, not excuses, IMHO.
I disagree.
LOL, gets a bit worrisome when Republicans start praising her.
…Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor drew praise from GOP skeptics….Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., described Sotomayor’s judicial record as “generally in the mainstream”… “You have been very reassuring here today and throughout this hearing..’, Graham said……On Thursday, another Republican member of the panel, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, also called Sotomayor’s rulings “pretty much in the mainstream,”…Republicans conceded that Sotomayor had not committed any major mistake that might derail her nomination.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sotomayor_senate;_ylt=ApD_olXB10j3Cayw1qv1CG6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJrbTJmMzNlBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwNzE2L3VzX3NvdG9tYXlvcl9zZW5hdGUEY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMzBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2Z1bGxuYnNwc3Rvcg–
I guess that “pretty much in the mainstream” was in the memo they all got this morning….
Yup, a series of e-mails went out and asked that close attention be given to those ‘attacking’ Sotomayor and the Latino Civil Rights organizations as r@cists. It appears they won’t be able to hold onto certain seats if they loose that support and it was making the foreign evening news. So, even KEN STARR issued a letter of support! 😯
Senator Jeff Sessions is afraid The Lone Latina will take away everyone’s guns!
Do Americans Have A Right To Personal Self-Defense? pt.3 Senator Coburn Judge Sotomayor Hearing
I really liked her answer re: international/foreign law in that clip. I actually do have concerns about that, and her approach is very very reasonable.
I liked her example and that she has a sense of humor.
US Congress: Commies, Cons, and Clowns. What a bunch.
Has anyone seen any news coverage of Randall Terry’s tour? I hope he gave it up as he is sooo out there it is frightening.
Sen. Graham to Judge Sotomayor: “You Have Said Some Things That Just Bug the Hell out of Me.” “You have earned the respect of Ken Starr”…
What an assw!pe!
Graham: “What do you say to those you have offended by the wise latina remark?”
Sotomayor: “What’s your address, Sen. Graham? I’ll send you a written apology.”
Get over it, Graham!
al franken is the joke to me, he sure proved one thing, he is not only a junior senator, he’s not ready for this job, just my opinion. Name one great thing he asked
i want to know
Populations We Don’t To Have Too Many Of! 😯
What do you think she meant by that? Here’s her full quote:
In her next answer she’s as plain as can be:
Q: When you say that reproductive rights need to be straightened out, what do you mean?
JUSTICE GINSBURG: The basic thing is that the government has no business making that choice for a woman.
I am still puzzled why SCOTUS Ruth Bader Ginsburg would have made these comments (dynomite laced), especially when there is a confirmation hearing going on and when it could have ramifications in the level of questions that may be leveled during the hearings.
Ginsberg made those (or simlar) comments at her own confirmation hearing as well.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/23/AR2007082300929_pf.html
Ginsberg is really a hero. She has never been afraid to publicly support women’s rights. It’s sad that the country has moved backwards so much. But I also think the idea that those statements couldn’t be made today (oh no! it would sink her nomination!) is bull. There are 60 Democratic senators. Surely a nominee could openly come out for abortion rights and still get approved.
It is very poor choice of words and I was very surprised to read that she would put them in others hands (as they look for anything a sitting SCOTUS says as most important) to throw back, as they are very incendiary and I can see that from here onward they will be used as a battle cry for the Randall Terrys of this country.
I
Yeah, I’m struggling to understand what she means here. She’s talking about Medicaid, so I’m guessing she’s talking about people with low income. I’m guessing she meant that the popular view at the time (not necessarily hers) was that people concerned about population growth would be in support of abortion being covered by Medicaid, but then the ruling suggested otherwise. Do you think that’s it?
The use of “we” rather, than ‘they’ was the sinker, as the “we” is going to cause quite a few problems. Maybe it was an innocent slip and she didn’t realized she said “we” rather than ‘they’, as she wasn’t on the court during the initial Roe vs. Wade case, but is so used to saying “we” as a SCOTUS.
My reading of that is not that she herself thought abortion ought to be used to reduce “certain” populations, but that she wondered at the time if that wasn’t part of the intent of Roe on the part of some who were backing it.
But she phrased it very very badly, indeed. You can’t put “we” in quotes in a speech, to make it clear you mean “some segments of society”, not yourself.
I agree – Ginsberg is a hero – she has stood steadfast for women’s rights.
OT– The Clinton derangement has very quickly gotten nasty out there in the blogosphere since Hillary gave her speech.
Here’s some positive press:
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=hillarys_challenge
So the firefighter will be key witness this afternoon? Did I already miss it?
nevermind.
Drudge_Report: Firefighter denounces Sotomayor ruling… http://tinyurl.com/m3ebov
It is very poor choice of words …
Testifying: Linda Chavez from Center of Equal Opportunity. *sigh*
I missed it.
Linda Chavez (on the loyal attack position on Sotomayor) just got the audience laughing at Lindsey Graham and Lindsey Grahma just said “bust your ass”…
Well, Since I’m The “White Guy” That Said That… I Agree With It! Senator Lindsey Graham
Okay, I’ve had PLENTY negative and nasty to say about Lindsay Graham, but he was really good here in the part where he talked about how a generation ago those firefighters would have had zero shot at that position, and we need to remember that.
I liked that he acknowledged that it’s not a simple thing. Neither racial quotas NOR being “color-blind” and ignoring disparities are the solution. I liked what Bloomberg had to say about how his dept is handling thngs, as well. Balance.
I disagree with Sen. Graham on so many things, but he did well on that one.
He should appear more often next to Linda Chavez, he looks angelic next to her.
LOL! Yeah, some of that was the contrast, and I’m sure much of it was posturing. But I’ve ripped Graham so badly for so much, I figured it was fair to say, “He did okay, there.”
Live feed on Burnt Orange Report
http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/8983/watch-the-sotomayor-confirmation-hearings-live-on-burnt-orange-report
i like her..
foxyladi14: You do? Yeah, I think it’s interesting to hear an opposing view.
Firefighter Ricci Judge Sonia Sotomayor Confirmation Hearing
Firefighter Vargas Judge Sonia Sotomayor Confirmation Hearing
Hmmm… Sen. Jeff Sessions and crack.
Sorry, but that one is Senator Sessions just doing his comedy bit about ‘doing crack’. Amazing what goes on in Washington.
From the AP:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g-ReMvPwb3xiWqSo_fJIh3oojC_wD99FNPC80
More from NBC’s Libby Leist:
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/16/1998792.aspx
A colleague pointed out last night as we were leaving a meeting that there have of the nominees for Supreme Court the 90% of the men have had one day of hearings – we are now on the fourth day for Sotomayor. We know they are going to confirm her unless she implodes or kills someone. Blowhards 😡
SHE is 50 feet tall and a Latina to boot… 😯 (snark) and did I mention she is really, really, really SMART( ‘summa cum laude’)!
OMG, did anyone post this yet? THIS is why I love Hillary Clinton!
Hillary Clinton rejects notion of diminished role
“I really stay focused on the work that I do. I broke my elbow, not my larynx. I have been deeply involved in the shaping and implementation of our foreign policy,” she told reporters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE56F6XM20090716?sp=true
I broke my elbow, not my larynx!!! Classic.
Go Hill Go!
Yeah, I posted that above already 🙂
He was told:
😆 I like her and if the French would take him, I would pitch in for his ticket and bid him a Bon voyage.